Union of Lublin
The Union of Lublin or Lublin Union founded the Polish-Lithuanian aristocratic republic (also called Poland-Lithuania or Rzeczpospolita ) in 1569 .
One of the reasons for the Union of Lublin is that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was on the verge of a military and political catastrophe in the Livonian war against Russia and was looking for closer ties with the Polish kingdom. The establishment of the aristocratic republic and the introduction of the elective monarchy also offered the opportunity to compensate for the threatened dissolution of the personal union in which both states had existed for almost 200 years due to the childlessness of King Sigismund II August .
From January 10th to August 12th, 1569 the Sejm convened by him met in Lublin . After numerous stormy meetings, the Polish and Lithuanian nobility , in view of the foreseeable extinction of the ruling dynasty of the Jagiellonians and the foreign policy situation, decided to transform the states that had been linked up to then in personal union, the Kingdom of Poland , the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Royal Prussia (not to be confused with the Duchy of Prussia, from 1701 Kingdom of Prussia ), decided into a unified state ( Realunion ). In principle, this was initially a federal state with uniform legislation, official language ( Polish and Latin ) and currency, a parliament (Sejm) and a monarch as head. Certain rights could be guaranteed in light of the majority situation of both Lithuania and Royal Prussia. Ruthenian and German remained official languages in the respective regions.
The elective monarchy was introduced, from then on the power in the state was predominantly in the hands of the Polish land and high nobility as well as some Lithuanian magnates , who, however, became Polonized over time. The Free Cities of Royal Prussia were also represented in the Sejm. Among them were Gdansk , which was of great importance as the country's most important port, Toruń and Elbląg .
In the aristocratic republic, the larger part of the country, consisting of the Kingdom of Poland and Royal Prussia, was generally called the crown (corona), while the smaller, Lithuanian part was called Lithuania (Litwa). The official language in Lithuania, Ruthenian , was more and more replaced by Polish in some domains.
The Monument of the Union of Lublin on the Lithuanian Square in Lublin was unveiled in 1828.